Fall
by imloopy
Summary: Chloe was enjoying an evening with colleagues. But now it's all gone wrong, and one is threatening to throw her off the balcony of Lucifer's apartment. But Lucifer and Pierce will save her, right?


I'm sure we've all tried to imagine this story. While I'm eagerly waiting to see how they handle it in the show, I just had to try putting down my version of how it just might play out. The characters, of course, are not mine, and I'm grateful to the writers who create them and bring them to life for us.

* * *

Chloe stared at Lucifer, her eyes wide with terror. One minute this had been a friendly chat with colleagues, and the next she was facing the very real possibility of being killed by one of those colleagues. The arm tightened around her neck, as Pierce spoke quietly from behind her somewhere. 'You don't have to do this. We can work this thing out.'

Jacob swung round, and Chloe fought to keep her balance. Pierce stood just inside the glass doorway, watching dispassionately. 'My life is over!' Jacob growled.

'Let the detective go.' Lucifer's voice was firm and commanding, and Jacob swung back to him. 'This won't help you. You'll face your punishment in Hell. No need to make it worse by taking her with you.'

'Stay back!' Jacob yanked at Chloe again, and she felt the edge of the balcony against her hip. She found herself looking down, past the darkness to the cars moving past below, their lights twinkling. Traffic was light this time of night. Most sensible people were cosily at home with their family, not out risking their life to keep the city safe.

'Detective!'

The urgency in Lucifer's tone pulled her attention back, and she turned her head to look at him again. He was standing at the other end of the balcony, and as she watched, he edged closer to the railing, still keeping a large distance between them. Chloe's heart sank. If they couldn't talk Jacob out of this - if he threw her and himself over the balcony - there was no hope that Lucifer would be able to grab her from that far back.

'Detective, do you trust me?'

What a silly question. Of course she trusted him. She trusted him with her life. Except - right now she couldn't see a way out of this. Jacob was determined to kill both of them, intent on throwing them over the balcony of Lucifer's penthouse apartment to the sidewalk far below. Anything Pierce might try would risk knocking her over, and Lucifer was too far away to help.

'Chloe!'

Startled by the use of her name, she took a deep breath. Did she trust him? Yes. He had never failed her, always had her back. He had saved both her and Trixie from Malcolm Graham, even risking his life to do so. Whatever Amenadiel had said, she didn't see how the shooting could have been a trick. But how could he help her now? Even if he was really the Devil.

But Lucifer seemed calm, in control, and she gazed at him, mind racing. Whatever he was going to do, she needed to be able to help him. Her heart was racing, and she found it hard to focus on her surroundings, as her mind tried to skip back to the previous conversation, trying to work out why they hadn't spotted the signs before, how they had got to this point.

She heard Jacob's breath in her ear, rasping and uneven. He was strong, and he was keeping her off balance; she tried hard to swing him round, to force her heel back, to try one of a dozen tricks she had learned in her years in the force. But he knew the same tricks, and managed to thwart every effort.

'Jacob. You killed your partner. You have been using inside knowledge to profit from crime and to exact your own kind of justice. But now you face justice yourself. It's time to _let the detective go_.' Lucifer's face was stern, silhouetted in the dim light of the evening against the flames in the fireplace behind him. She shivered in fear, and for a second she was not sure which of the men she was actually afraid of.

Jacob had stilled, appearing to listen intently to Lucifer's voice, but then the world seemed to explode. Chloe was vaguely aware of something cannoning into them, knocking them both off their feet. Pierce had managed to sneak around while Jacob was distracted, and now he swung a fist at Chloe's assailant. Chloe felt the breeze as the fist flew past her face. Jacob grunted, but the impact seemed to have little effect, and Lucifer - Chloe glanced over at him, hoping beyond hope that somehow he would be there to help - was motionless, poised, almost seeming to stand on tiptoe.

And then Jacob's thrashing around achieved its aim, and Chloe felt her feet fly out from under her as she tipped backwards, the edge of the balcony digging into her back. She threw out her hands desperately, trying to grab Jacob, Pierce, the railing, anything that could stop her fall.

For a few heart-stopping seconds, she thought she had managed to save herself. Had the railing been an inch or two higher, maybe it would have been enough. But as her weight shifted, Jacob thrust at her shoulder and she felt herself arch over, legs flying in the air, and then she was fully airborne. A hand snatched at her, but it was Jacob, as Pierce yanked him backward. She was already out of reach of anyone else on the balcony.

This was it. A few seconds, maybe, and then the ground. Her mind worked like a lightning flash, jumping from thought to thought. Trixie, without a mom. Dan, having to break the news. The pain that was to come. The illogical thought that she would find out for herself the truth about whether heaven existed, whether hell existed. The truth about the greatest fall in history, and about her partner.

The air rushed past her face, leaving her hair streaming behind her, as she worked her arms and legs desperately, as though she could alter her position as she fell, as though she could make any difference to the impact on the ground.

The sidewalk was approaching fast, and she shut her eyes, terrified. But the impact, when it came, was softer than she had expected, and seemed to come from behind instead of in front. An iron band was around her midriff, forcing the air out of her with a grunt, and then the falling sensation stopped, leaving her instead with a leaden feeling in her stomach. She opened her mouth to scream.

'Don't struggle, detective, I'd hate to drop you after all this.'

Lucifer's voice. She froze, and then tried to twist round. How the hell…?

'Detective!' Lucifer's voice took on an urgent note, and she opened her eyes. The ground that had threatened to take her life seemed to be retreating rather than growing closer. There was still breathing in her ear, rough and fast, but the wind around her felt different. She lifted her head and looked over her shoulder.

'Good evening, detective.' Lucifer's familiar face grinned at her. And behind him… Her mind struggled to take it all in.

'What… how…?'

For a moment she felt weightless, and then she was lying in Lucifer's arms, just like the time he had carried her out of a burning building, and she instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck and closed her eyes again, burying her face in his chest, inhaling that heady aftershave he always wore, the one that made it oh-so-hard to resist him.

Then he was trying to put her down, and she clung to him, frantically. 'It's all right, detective, we're back on the balcony,' he said softly, reaching up to loosen her grip around his neck. She stretched out her fingers, uncertainly, trying to work out whether this was real or some kind of hallucination. 'Are those wings?' She caressed the pure white feathers that had sprouted from behind his back.

Lucifer rolled his shoulders back in a shrug, and the wings disappeared in a whoosh of light and movement. He half-led, half-carried her through the door into the main apartment, and lowered her to a seat on the couch. Pierce was there, and he handed her a glass. 'Here, you probably need this right now.'

She took the glass with shaking hands, and sniffed it. Fine whiskey, of course. She rarely drank whiskey, but she drowned it in one gulp, gasping as it hit her throat. Well, she understood now how Lucifer could drink the stuff as though it was water. What was it he had said, pesky supernatural metabolism?

She looked up from the empty glass to see both men standing over her, looking concerned. In one corner of the penthouse, Jacob squirmed and groaned, duct tape over his face and rope holding him immobile.

Pierce nodded at her and then turned back to check Jacob's bonds, leaving Chloe and Lucifer alone for a moment. He was frowning down at her, looking worried. No, looking terrified. She shook her head at him, and began to laugh hysterically. The Devil was afraid of her?

Lucifer knelt down beside her, reaching his hands out to touch her, and then pulling them away again. He didn't seem to have a clue what to do, and for a moment she was in no condition to help him out.

'I thought you said you cut your wings off?' she said when she could control herself enough to talk.

He looked startled, and then burst out laughing himself. 'After all that excitement, that's the only thing you can say?' he asked, between chuckles.

Chloe shrugged. 'Well, I guess you told me the truth about everything else. That's the only thing that doesn't make sense.'

Lucifer sank down on the seat beside her, and took her hand, threading his fingers between hers, stroking the back of her hand. 'It's going to be all right, isn't it?' he said softly.

Chloe leaned her head back, feeling her heart beat finally returning to normal. 'Yes, I think it is,' she smiled back.

* * *

All feedback welcome. If you enjoyed it, please do let me know. If you have ideas on how to improve it, I'm interested in those as well.


End file.
